Recent advance in effect of microglial activation on long-term potentiation of hippocampus

Abstract

In the study of neurodegenerative diseases, a hypothesis of inflammation in central nervous system is raised: the activated microglia leads to sustained release of preinflammatory cytokines and injury of normal neural structures and function, resulting in learning and memory deficits, such as Alzheimer's disease(AD)and Parkinson's disease(PD). Synapses structural disorders are responsible for deficit of synaptic plasticity; after high frequency stimulation, changes of long-term potentiation(LTP)are most obvious in synaptic plasticity, characterized by decrease of amplitude and excitatory postsynaptic potential duration. Activated microglia and inflammatory cytokines released by activated microglia, such as interleukin-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α and nitric oxide are involved in the pathological process of LTP changes in these kinds of disease. The aim of this paper is to give a review about progress in the relations between microglia activation and LTP in neurodegenerative diseases researches in recent years and hope to have something to guide the research of neurodegenerative disease. Key words: Microglia; Activation; Long-term potentiation; Inflammatory cytokine